Barcelona: 29 Percent Rise in Bag Snatching in 2011

Barcelona’s Municipal Report was presented at the first Urban Security Council meeting chaired by Mayor Xavier Trias on November 22nd.

Figures announced show there has been a 29.8% rise in bag snatching, and a 16% rise in violent muggings in 2011 compared to the same period in 2010.

The 16% rise in violent muggings represents close to 9,000 separate incidents during the first 10 months of 2011. Handbag-snatchings has risen by 29.8% (to just over 2,000 incidents) in the same period.

BCN.cat reported the mayor as saying “(these figures) are ‘of concern’ to the police forces, requiring them to take action against such offences. The report also highlighted the type of people committing these offences, including some that had no prior criminal record and many who were minors when arrested.”

A separate statistic released was that overall crime numbers in the city stood at 165,000 offences for the first ten months of the year, or 16,500 a month, or 550 a day, a drop of 5% on figures from the same period in 2010.

It was also noted that there was a 7.5% drop in attacks on tourists, despite a 17% rise in the number of people visiting the city. This suggests locals are being targetted in greater numbers than in previous years.

2 Responses to Barcelona: 29 Percent Rise in Bag Snatching in 2011

[…] An iPhone Stolen in Barcelona Turns Up in Pakistan January 9, 2012Barry visited Barcelona in October 2011 and had his black iPhone 4 stolen. Nothing unusual so far; we have 550 criminal incidents here every day. […]